


Yield

by snack_size



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, Everyone lives, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-02
Updated: 2013-12-02
Packaged: 2018-01-03 06:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snack_size/pseuds/snack_size
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raleigh Becket has a secret. One that is about to be revealed thanks to an ill-conceived prank. </p><p>It all sort of degenerates from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yield

**Author's Note:**

> I blame this on leftover Thanksgiving wine, working a full schedule Black Friday weekend, and having two twenty page papers due.
> 
> No, actually, I have no excuses for this. 
> 
> (it's all Toast's fault for encouraging this and brainstorming with me)

Raleigh still vividly remembered the day that his mum sat Yancy and him down.

“Now that you’re old enough, and almost little men...there is something I need to tell you. So, you know how dad always makes those jokes about I have to go away because it’s my time of the month?” she asked. They nodded. They knew that their mother actually went down to Anchorage to spend a weekend with her lady friends, which she said was necessary since their house was overrun by men.

“Well, it’s sort of true,” she said. Both boys furrowed their brows. “You see, when it’s a full moon-”

“You’re a werewolf?” Raleigh asked, and he bounced a bit in his seat. Yancy hit him.

“Ow!”

“Don’t be stupid-”

“Yancy, no touching.”

Yancy and Raleigh raised their hands up reflexively. “No touching!”

“Also, well...not _exactly._ ”

* * *

“Raleigh, it is fine. We have just been locked in this closet as a prank,” Mako said. She was not sure what someone thought locking them in a closet together would accomplish. Mako was inclined to blame Chuck, but he tended to think through his nefarious schemes a lot better.

“No, it’s...look, Mako, I was meaning to tell you, before we drifted-”

Mako furrowed her brow. Claustrophobia did not make sense - if he could get into a Conn Pod.

“Just promise me-”

“Promise you?” Mako asked, and she felt her stomach tighten slightly.

“You won’t freak out.” Raleigh’s breath is a little ragged and he bent over himself slightly, like he was going to be sick. Mako moved towards him but he waved a hand at her.

“Raleigh-”

“It’s just, right now, it’s a full moon, and I tend to get a little...uh, furry?”

Mako’s brow furrow deepened. This was perhaps an American expression she was unfamiliar with. “What do you mean, a little furry?” Raleigh shook his head. His eyes were quite wide. “Raleigh? What do you mean?” His lack of response, and possibly something else, some shift in the scent in the room, made her adrenalin begin to course.

She was about to talk herself out of it - _don’t be absurd, Mori_ \- but then she noticed that there was something odd about Raleigh’s face and the way that his spine was attached to his head. His nose was protruding, she realized, and shifting in shape-

Instantly, she remembered every werewolf movie she had ever watched as well as the thirty minutes they had spent trying to get out of the closet - both of them very intelligent, strong, capable people, and they hadn’t made any progress.

Mako was not going to die like this, in a closet, mauled by her were-copilot. And how had they not caught that on the very intensive PPDC medical screening?

She glanced around the closet for things to arm herself with as Raleigh contorted further, ripping through the new sweater they had given him. There was a broom, which meant the handle, some chemicals in bottles-

But then Mako glanced over at Raleigh and realized that he was growing smaller and that the blonde mop of hair on his head was rapidly spreading over the rest of his body. She turned her head to the side, because he looked an awful lot like-

No, he was.

She really should have predicted this.

* * *

“OK, so, ready?” asked Tanya Popoff, Gipsy Danger’s Chief of Operations - they’d been trying, with varying degrees of success up until now, to melt the sealant that had locked Raleigh and Mako into the storage closet.

“Definitely the triplets,” muttered one of the engineers, Rob Farrell. “Didn’t consider the whole oxygen supply issue…”

“Probably trying to win some bet with Choi about when the two of them would get it on,” someone else said.

“Can we focus, here?” Tanya asked. “There’s maybe half an hour left of oxygen in there.”

They sprayed the solution they had concocted over the sealed seams of the door and a cheer went up as it was clear that things were melting away. “Don’t worry Mako, Raleigh, we’re coming in!” Rob called. He left the dramatic door opening and rescue to Tanya, though, since the successful formula had ultimately been her idea.

Tanya frowned when they didn’t get a response. Previously she had thought it was because the sealant had soundproofed the room. Now, though…

“Mako? Raleigh? Where the fuck is Raleigh?” she asked, only able to see Mako’s back poking out from the shelving she was sitting against.

“Oh,” Mako yawned, and turned. “Right here.” She shifted, and a very fluffy golden retriever puppy slid out her lap. It was in the gawky stage where its paws were far too big for the rest of it. “We’re fine, we had fun - those things sort of worked as balls.” She nodded over to a corner and gave them all a smile. The puppy yawned and rolled over on its back, legs in the air.

* * *

_Goddamnit,_ Stacker Pentecost thought.

Legal definitely did not have a non-disclosure agreement for this.

 _Fuck,_ he thought, _we don't even have legal anymore._

* * *

“Oi,” said Herc Hansen, as Raleigh tried to make it through the cafeteria with a quickly assembled bagel and some fruit juice. “Got your tail between your legs, Becket?”

“Aah…” he said, then sighed and kept walking. He stopped after a few steps, though, and turned. “You know I have heard that before, right?”

Herc grinned at him - didn’t matter, as far as he was concerned. He was going to make use of all the puns.

Chuck leaned down so he was eye to eye with Max. “You are, absolutely, under no circumstances, playing with him. Ever.”

“Come on, then,” Herc said. “Not like he’s got any other dog friends around.”

Chuck narrowed his eyes and bopped Max on the top of his nose. “No playing.” Max almost seemed sad. _Like he knew,_ Herc thought. _But how could he?_

Herc was fairly certain, at least, that their dog was not some wayward were who’d decided never to revert back. He considered Max for a long moment as the dog chewed on some scrap Chuck gave him. _No,_ he decided.

* * *

“You can play with us,” said Hu Wei as the triplets did some elaborate dribbling drill as Raleigh walked by.

“With the ball,” Cheung added.

“Uh...not really sure that would work, but thanks-”

“There is a movie,” said Jin.

“The dog is very skilled,” Cheung added.

Raleigh sighed. You could never tell with those three.

* * *

Mako only had to relinquish ten ration credits and a jar of peanut butter to get Max from the tech who was babysitting him when the Hansens were running a drift simulation for the new scientists.

Max wiggled a bit in her arms, like he could tell she was up to something. “You will like this, do not worry,” she said. She was just glad that the shipment of squeaky toys and tennis balls had arrived from Amazon on time.

 _It’s just, relieving, I guess, having people know…_ Raleigh said. Apparently after Yancy died he had only changed when he had to, at the full moon. He could shift at other times and said that he felt much better when he did.

Mako was just impressed he had managed to keep it from her in the drift. Sure, there had been images of two golden retrievers puppy playing with each other, but she had just assumed...which was part of the reason why, reflecting back, she had decided to kidnap Max for Raleigh. She could even see it in his dog eyes - he liked fetching the ball for Newt, or Aleksis, or Sasha, but it wasn’t the same.

She opened the door and set Max down. “Raleigh?” she called, and the puppy poked his head out from the bedroom area into the small living space.

Max’s tail wiggled vigorously. He barked in excitement and joy. Mako dumped some squeaky toys down on the ground, turned on the video camera, and then grabbed her own camera.

* * *

“After I expressly forbade him!” Chuck said. “And you just fucking steal him!”

“Max can make his own decisions,” Mako replied, not looking up from her lunch. Raleigh nodded.

“Oi, and I suppose you would know about that,” Chuck said. He put both his arms on the table so he could lean in, closer to Raleigh, clearly about to make some sort of stupid dog related pun. Probably one Herc had already made.

“Well, actually, yeah,” Raleigh said. “Weres and actual animals can communicate.”

Chuck froze. He blinked, though slowly. His mouth slackened and he blinked again. Then he looked down at Max, who had immediately run over to Raleigh and sat at his feet. Raleigh had begun to rub his neck and ears in earnest.

“A little,” Raleigh amended.

“Wait - how does that work?” Mako asked.

“It’s sort of like speaking two different dialects, uh, so there’s some understanding but still a lot of - plus, I mean, his brain works completely differently so-”

It didn’t seem to matter. Raleigh had said enough it convinced him and Chuck slid into the seat and did his best to look contrite and not that interested. “Uh, really?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Raleigh said. Chuck looked at him. Raleigh looked away, so Chuck glanced over at Mako, then back at Raleigh, who coughed.

“Sorry I yelled at you about stealing Max, Mako,” Chuck said. He cocked his head at Raleigh, who nodded. “Um...so...what did you talk about?”

“Squeaky toy preferences,” Raleigh said. “Because Mako got the really good ones that are just, like, fur and squeaker, instead of having stuffing…” Mako smiled. She had done her research.

“Oi, so you’re actually really like a dog, then?” Chuck asked.

“Not really?” Raleigh said. “It’s hard to describe, it’s more like, you can be two things at once but let one kind of take the back burner, you know, just let yourself-”

“Right, so-” Chuck interrupted. Max’s leg began to flick against the floor as Raleigh massaged behind his ears. Chuck narrowed his eyes. He had never been able to get Max to do that.

“Well, he thinks you are the most absolutely awesome person there is,” Raleigh said.

“Really?” Chuck asked. Mako rolled her eyes.

“Of course,” Raleigh replied. “Chuck this, Chuck that…” Max’s leg thumping intensified, and Chuck narrowed his eyes. “Although, um, he does wish you would scratch him behind his ears.”

“I do,” Chuck said. _Traitor,_ he thought. Max whined a bit at him.

“Yeah, but, you’re too tentative. You have to put some real pressure into it, like…” Raleigh scrunched Max’s ears up and massaged. Max pretty much went boneless to his attentions.

“Tentative?” Chuck asked.

“He said it, not me,” Raleigh replied. “C’mere, I’ll show you…”

* * *

Mako watched as Raleigh showed Chuck exactly how Max like to be scratched. Raleigh put his hands on Chuck’s and guided them, and it only took a moment before Max was positively melting as Chuck scratched his ears.

“There, you’ve got it,” Raleigh said, voice soft. Chuck smiled - the first time Mako had really seen him smile since Pitfall.

Raleigh showed him another place to scratch and Max was basically making doggy moaning sounds at this point.

Honestly, it made Mako feel like she was intruding on something.

When they were done, Chuck nodded at Raleigh and Raleigh smiled back while Max puddled on the floor.

Mako considered Chuck, though. There was something strange and dangerous in his expression.

He was thinking about something.

* * *

“How is it you become a were-puppy, anyway?” Tendo asked, pouring himself and Raleigh a cup of coffee.

“Well, uh, it’s were-golden retriever,” Raleigh said. He glanced back - he could feel Chuck’s eyes on him as he waited to get at the coffee urn. “Weres just sort of age slower, in were form, because of the different life spans, so…”

Tendo considered this. “Right, so, what, you and Yancy get bit by a dog when you were kids?”

“Uh...well, my mum was one,” Raleigh said. “Ran in the family after, I think, her great-great-grandfather got bit. I think.” He moved aside so Chuck could get in - looked like he was on coffee fetching duty for Herc and Pentecost.

“Huh,” said Tendo. “So there are were-wolves?”

“Yeah, but…” Raleigh said. “They’re not exactly...well.” Tendo nodded his head as Chuck grunted and moved out of the room.

“Please tell me you were bullshitting him about being able to talk to Max,” Tendo said, when Chuck left.

“Nope,” Raleigh replied. “It was kind of cute, actually, like _do you know Chuck I love Chuck he is amazing and the best Chuck but he is my Chuck_ -”

“Fuck me,” said Tendo.

* * *

“We have a problem,” Mako said to Herc.

He looked up at her from the stacks of paperwork she had been helping him get through. She did not want to tell this to him while he was at work - but he needed to know, sooner rather than later. “Right, what?”

“Chuck tried to get Raleigh to bite him at Max’s last play date,” Mako said. “Quite blatantly.”

“Oi, fuck me,” Herc said.

“Raleigh said he thought about doing it,” Mako said, and winced.

“I told you!” Pentecost called from his office.

Herc just shook his head.“That boy is a complete dumbass, what is-”

“Well…” Mako said. She was sympathetic. “He has not had a were-friend since Yancy, and while Max is wonderful, he is still…”

Herc considered this for a moment, then put his finger on the intercom. “Tendo, get in here, we’ve got a project,” he said. When he pulled the finger off he looked at Mako. “Hong Kong’s a big place,” he said. “Got to be some other were-doges around, right?”

* * *

It turned out were-dogs were not as common in Hong Kong as in America. Pentecost got Newt to see if Hannibal knew anyone while Tendo and Mako poked around on the Internet. Their combined efforts yielded one of Hannibal’s chemists and two ex-pats.

“I have a surprise for you,” Mako said to Raleigh three days later. She, Herc, Tendo and Newt had set up a whole play area for the group. They had got plastic slides, tunnels, some dog agility course pieces, plenty of toys and balls, and a large faux-grass area for business doing.

She put her hands over his eyes and walked him into the room. “Aw, Mako, this is really sweet, but-” then he noticed the three people awkwardly sipping beer and wine in the corner along with Pentecost, Chuck, Herc, Tendo, and Newt. Max, hearing Raleigh’s voice, poked his head out from the tunnel he was investigating.

“Raleigh, this is Guoliang Ming-” Hannibal’s chemist nodded, “Avery Randolph and Laiken Martens.” Avery grinned at him and Laiken gave a slight nod but maintained eye contact with Mako. It made Mako swallow a bit heavy.

“Hi,” Raleigh said.

“There is a room you can change in,” Pentecost said. He seemed quite put out by the whole thing. Mako was glad she had convinced him to come - he could use some puppy playtime.

“You know,” Tendo said, while they waited, “I thought the whole giant city-block sized monsters coming out of a portal from another dimension was the weirdest thing that I was going to see in my life, but…” Herc grunted his assent.

A golden retriever puppy, an almost full-grown Rhodesian Ridgeback, a Shi Tzu, and a very clumsy Newfoundland puppy emerged a minute later. Max barked and barrelled towards them and soon, epic bouts of tug of war, wrestling - both dog on dog and person on dog - and games of fetch broke out.

Mako startled when the Ridgeback - Laiken, she corrected herself - squeaked a toy at her. The native South African woman was quite stunning, and Mako had been quite attracted to her when they initially met. She wondered if this was… _well, it would be nice to have a friend outside of the PPDC, in the very least,_ she thought, and flung the squeaky toy as far as she could.

* * *

“I know what that was about,” Chuck told Herc, and he crossed his arms.

“You are absolutely _not_ getting bit by Becket-” Herc said, and then realized what _this_ was all about. Without the Jaeger program operating like it had, with them just working on drift technology, Chuck was adrift. Purposeless. And he thought being a were-dog would solve his problem.

Kid was a fucking genius, but he was also pretty stupid.

“Look,” Herc said. “You just need a-” he stopped himself from saying girlfriend, remembering Chuck’s disastrous past attempts at flirting, “-hobby. Maybe learn to cook?”

Chuck groaned. “C’mon, Max,” he said, and turned and walked away.

* * *

“You are such a dumb cunt!” Herc said, while Chuck lay grinning and sweating in his bed.

“Oh, Chuck,” Raleigh said, appearing in the door and looking at the bite on his arm. It was swollen and angry with red lines rapidly spreading from the bite along his blood lines towards his heart.

“We are not inviting Guoliang back for play group,” Mako said. She should have been more suspicious of anyone who worked for Hannibal Chau. Of course he would bite someone for money.

“I’ll be fine,” Chuck said. His teeth were chattering. “Honestly, you all act like-”

“Yeah, but…” Raleigh said, and he glanced at Herc. “You know, there’s no way to predict what kind of dog, has to do with personality and-”

“Course I do,” Chuck said. “You think I woulda let the Shi Tzu bite me if I didn’t?” He smiled, slightly, despite being in obvious discomfort. It was pretty clear he anticipated transforming into a bulldog or something equivalent relatively soon.

“Look,” said Raleigh. “Why don’t you guys, ah, leave me with Chuck and we’ll work through this...you dumbass,” he added.

Herc sighed and looked at Mako. They both stood outside.

“I am sorry,” Mako said.

“Not your fault,” Herc said. “Shoulda known we couldn’t trust one of Chau’s guys…” He glanced at the door as Chuck groaned. “Goddamnit.”

Then there was a high-pitched howling sound, a moment of silence, and then Raleigh’s deep, almost hysterical laughter.

“Goddamnit,” Herc said. He looked at Mako and she shrugged her shoulders. The bark coming from Chuck sounded rather deep, so she couldn’t imagine - but Raleigh sounded like he was almost peeing himself from laughing.

Herc appeared to count to three and opened the door. All Mako saw at first was Raleigh, doubled over and almost crying - then she followed his gaze to where Chuck the were-dog stood and began laughing herself.

She stopped when she saw Herc’s expression.

“No, it’s fine,” he said. “Makes sense. Chuck is a real wiener.”

Chuck Hansen, were-longhaired dachshund puppy, all of eight pounds, tried to bark menacingly at his father. As he rushed at him, though, he was not used to the length of his body in relation to his very stumpy legs, and he fell sideways.

Raleigh howled.

* * *

“So…” Tendo said, grinning when he finally managed to corner Chuck, who had been avoiding everyone since his first transformation. “How’s Max feel about all this?”

“Oi, he’s uh,” Chuck said, clearly relieved. “Pretty happy, uh, thinks it’s a bit weird I’m a dog, now, but...sort of like, well, Chuck, we all make strange choices sometimes. Like how he pooped in Herc’s pants that one day.”

Tendo grinned back, remembering the fury that had emanated from Herc towards everyone and especially Max following the incident. “Yeah,” he said. “So-”

“No, fuck off,” Chuck said, and darted in the opposite direction.

“Oh, come on, Hansen, I’ve always wanted to pet a wiener!”

* * *

No one would admit to being the one who ordered the _Please do not touch me I am a service dog_ t-shirt from Amazon for Herc.

At least he seemed to appreciate it and frequently wore it for casual Fridays.

Herc would not admit that he really enjoyed the nights when he would enter his bedroom and find a bulldog, a golden retriever, and a dachshund curled up on the end of his bed, all waiting to cuddle around him.

Still, just to make his point, he wouldn’t let Chuck under the covers.


End file.
